Newport, International Yacht Restoration University

We were walking one day and came across this school.  What caught our eye at first was the Beetle Cat sailboat in the front of this really old building with the sign for the university.  Being nosy, we walked around the corner of the building and found a boating wonderland and spent a few hours poking around, talking with staff and I'm sure David would love to go back to this kind of school!

The front of the school.  Only the small sign by the door identifies what
the building is.  The school is actually several large buildings, most former
warehouses.  One of the courses is how to build one of these boats so they are
for sale to anyone interested.  The previous class' boats were on racks waiting
for some lucky new owner.

The back side of the previous picture.  The rear of the building is much
older than the front half.  There are classrooms for the technical
coursework.

A first step in constructing a plywood boat is to stitch the seams
together and join them with glue.  David built his first boat,
a Mirror Dinghy just this way.

A boat that has been joined and holes filled.

One of the hands-on classroom spaces.  The areas to the left are
massive wood shops.

This is a classic yacht that one many, many races is being restored.
It was owned and raced by a woman.  After she won so many races,
they tried to change the rules but she won those rigged races as well.

This is the masters level of yacht restoration.  It was fascinating to wander
around the work area and read all the informational placards describing
the history of the boat and the process of restoration.  Check out the link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronet_(yacht)

The scaffolding required to work on all her planks had to have been
a massive undertaking in and of itself.

Each piece of the boat is being restored.

The interior pieces were removed and await their own restoration.

All the blocks and other items are all labeled.

Even the piano is getting redone.  Can you imagine the size of a sailing
yacht with a piano!

All the cowl vents waiting to be rechromed.

More classroom projects.